But for one Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) passenger this week the pain was doubled after she slept through her plane's stop in Paris and awoke to find herself on route to Lahore in Pakistan - the place she had departed the day before.

The Frenchwoman, Patrice Christine Ahmed, departed Lahore on a PIA flight at noon on Tuesday intending to fly to Paris via the Italian city Milan.

Upon arrival at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris she was asleep and was not woken by airline staff during the plane's two-hour stopover.

When she did finally wake up the passenger found herself heading back to Lahore.

It is reported that Ahmed, who is married to a Pakistani man, did not alert the cabin crew to her situation with the result that the mistake was only discovered by immigration officials - who spotted her visa had expired - when she arrived back in Lahore on Wednesday morning.

She had traveled for 18 hours and had completed a 12,000 kilometre round trip.

Following complaints by the woman's family PIA later arranged a new flight back to Paris, using a different airline as none of their own flights were available.

A PIA spokesman said the cost of the return flight to Paris would be met by whoever was found to be responsible for the negligence.

The spokesman also said the company was investigating the incident, but that it was the responsibility of the passenger to disembark at their destination.